Notes From The Neighbor
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: Lucy's been corresponding with a mysterious neighbor lately. Armada project: 36/365


**I really liked writing this one. The concept is a fun one that's normally reserved for modern au's, so it was great to be able to find a way to use it in the canon setting.**

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Dressed up in her latest, cutest outfit, Lucy stood outside her apartment building with her back to the doors and facing the canal. Rocking back and forth on her heels in barely-contained anticipation, she hummed lightly under her breath. Night was settling in, and Lucy watched as the streetlights began to turn on. The lights on the canal bridges also flickered on, warm and inviting in the chilly, crisp autumn air. She paused in her humming only to wave back at the boatmen that greeted her as they took their boat in for the night.

Nothing could get her down right now, for she was about to meet the person she'd been corresponding with for the past month. Going on a blind date with someone she only knew through notes – let alone a mysterious neighbor – had not been a future she had expected to see herself in, but now she waited for it with outright eagerness.

A month ago, her neighbors in her apartment building were something Lucy had never given much thought to before. Theoretically, she had known that she had them. But she'd never run into them once in all the years she'd lived at her apartment. Which in hindsight was… very strange. But it hadn't struck her as a cause for concern until the day she finally – finally! – received her first noise complaint.

Why it had taken this long was as much of a mystery as to who the neighbor was that had left it.

The letter had been received not through her landlady as she imagined formal complaints normally were, but had, instead, been left on a note on her door. The language of it wasn't anything special. It was merely a polite request to please keep the noise down, as the other party had to awaken early in the mornings. No solid clues were present as to the mystery individual's identity. All Lucy had was the knowledge that they were an early riser, were exceptionally slow to anger, and that she now had a sample of their handwriting should the chance to compare it to anything arise.

All Lucy could think to do (after having spent some time steaming in her mortification) was to hastily scrawl an apology back promising to try to get her teammates to be quieter when they visited (a futile hope but one she clung to anyway) to and to stick it back on her own door. Because her mysterious neighbor had not even left her their apartment number. It had disappeared by the end of the day, so Lucy assumed that they had seen it.

Another, angrier, note had arrived a week later, after Lucy had put Natsu's skull through the wallpaper and into the adjoining apartment. Which… was fair. That one was as much on Lucy as it was Natsu. She placed a board over the hole until it could be fixed, and was delighted at the prospect of finally knowing which apartment belonged to her neighbor.

Getting the funds together to pay for the hole to be fixed had proven problematic. Not that that was any great surprise, but Lucy still felt bad about her neighbor having to deal with the hole for so long. So she left them a note, explaining that as soon as she had the funds she would get it repaired.

To her surprise, her neighbor responded with another note – cracking a joke about the tight finances of a teacher and therefore completely understanding her predicament.

They were a teacher!

This had opened up the opportunity for Lucy to ask all sorts of questions via their own strange postal delivery mechanism – aka the hole in the wall. Such as what they taught, what did they think of writing and mage work, and once " _what the hell is that you're cooking it smells freaking fantastic_."

And now, almost a month later… the hole was finally repaired.

Disappointment was Lucy's first reaction. She'd gotten used to the odd communication with her neighbor.

But then a new note appeared on her door – asking Lucy out to drinks.

Still over the moon at the invitation, and deep in her rumination over how she'd gotten to this point, Lucy almost missed the quiet clearing of a throat beside her. Jumping a little in surprise, Lucy turned wide-eyed to the tall man standing beside her. Breath catching in her throat as she recognized him – his two-toned hair and bar tattoo inked across his nose distinctive even eight years after she had the first (and the last) time she'd seen them.

It was clear that he was surprised by her, too, apparently tongue-tied as he stood in the cold, encased in a thick jacket.

For a fire mage, he sure dressed warmly, Lucy observed, a smile spreading across her face. "Good evening, Totomaru!"

An answering smile began to spread across his face, relief shining in his eyes. "Good evening, Lucy."

"So… where did you have in mind to go?" she prompted him.

He hesitated for a second, and then said, "How about we take a walk and pick whatever place catches our attention?"

"That sounds wonderful," Lucy admitted. When he offered, she took up his arm, and they started down the street. "So how was work, today?"

Their conversation continued on for a long, long time that night.


End file.
